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Unique idea, strategy fuel game cafe's success

Ben Castanie, co-owner of Snakes and Lattes, stands in front of the "wall of games".

Photograph by: David Kates
, For Postmedia News

The funny thing about inspiration is that it's often found when you're not looking for it.

Ben Castanie and his life partner, Aurelia Peynet, weren't exactly seeking inspiration when they got the idea to open up Snakes and Lattes (http://www.snakesandlattes.com), a board game café in downtown Toronto. But when they walked into a Chicago game store in 2008, that's exactly what they found. The experience, while hardly extraordinary in itself, brought up a host of childhood memories and a train of thought that, ultimately, would lead them to choose an entirely new career path together.

For Castanie, a French national raised in the suburbs of Paris, the store reminded him of the toy lending libraries he enjoyed as a child. "[Toy lending libraries] were places that we had in France where as a kid you could come in, play games on site or even borrow a game, go home and play them and bring them back - toys and board games," he says. "So this is something we were both very familiar with."

It was this kernel of an idea, sparked by the visit to the Chicago store and bolstered by the childhood memories it recalled, that led to the development of a new business.

"It was one of [those] ideas, we [said], 'Why don't we do that?' " says Castanie. " 'Why don't we open something for kids so they could come in and play?' And we thought for a second, now we're approaching 30, we're adults. Why don't we do [something] geared toward adults?

"So you would have alcohol. You'd have a bunch of games. The cool thing about the games now is . . . there's a bunch of new games that came out in the past 10 years, something that we didn't have when we were kids. And these games are extremely playable for adults. It's not something that has to be a kids' activity. So I said, yeah, let's do it."

Returning to Toronto, Castanie and Peynet spent the following two years writing up a business plan, saving money - and, of course, amassing a formidable collection of games.

The first thing they noticed during the development stages was that the concept of a board game café is not only unprecedented in Toronto; it's also one that hasn't seen much success anywhere else.

"There are a few around the world," he says. "We noticed that by starting our business plans, so like, what's the competition, what do people do? And it's not going very well, unfortunately. The idea came about in South Korea, Seoul. There are quite a few in France and Germany. But it's been hard for them. They haven't been able to come up with a business plan, to find a business model. So how can this little venture be profitable?"

They decided that if they were going to do things right, they were going to have to do it their own way. Part of the solution was to re-think just who might be interested in hanging out at a board game café - and losing the assumption that their prime demographic should necessarily be hardcore gamers.

"We were really focusing on this: making it a social place instead of just a game place geared towards a very specific type of population," says Castanie.

The adopted rule was to start small and stick to what they knew. "At the beginning it was just basically the two of us, my partner and I," Says Castanie. "We were very naïve. We were like, you know what? We're going to do it the way we think it should be done. We're going to stay away from the existing models - we actually haven't taken that many ideas from the existing ones.

"We're going to do it the way we want it. We're going to serve the food that we know to cook - you know, a little quiche and a little French thing, it's the only thing I know, right? We're going to do what we want, we're going to open a small place."

From the day Snakes and Lattes opened in late August 2010, however, it didn't take long for them to realize that what they had was more than just a small café. Benefiting in part from some positive initial press and an eager gaming community, the café saw success right from the outset - something that has grown along with its reputation. The fact that people were lining up out the door and putting themselves on waiting lists meant there was no need to invest in marketing.

"We never had the problem that most entrepreneurs [have]," says Castanie, "which is how do you get people to know about you and how do you get people in? We haven't invested a single dollar in marketing. We made a little Facebook page and took some pictures, but that's it.

"People know about us without us having to do any effort. People come without us having to do anything. We don't have to go around [putting up] flyers. Half of my business plan was about how to reach out. It's completely useless."

With such unexpected success came new challenges, the most obvious one being how to accommodate the growing crowds. Starting with a small space, very few staff - at first, the only ones working there were Castanie & Peynet, along with 2 employees, one of whom was hired on the first day - and a business model not necessarily catered towards handling capacity crowds, they realized from the outset that they were going to have to keep evolving to meet demand. Accordingly, they took over the adjacent space in 2010, adding considerable capacity. They've hired more staff - Snakes and Lattes now has 32 employees - and have adopted a point-of-sale system so that they're no longer taking everyone's orders on pieces of paper.

As for the games, Castanie says they now have over 2,200 of them.

And, he notes, there are plans to continue expansion. They've finalized a plan to take over half of the adjacent store, while a wall will be knocked down to open up the existing space. The plan is hoped to boost capacity by 60 per cent.

But expanding the business won't just entail adding more physical space - and even possibly opening additional locations. The broader goal is to grow Snakes and Lattes as a brand.

"We're definitely thinking of expanding, thinking of becoming more of a company," he says. "So publishing games, helping people putting games out to the market, representing ourselves at conventions, having good relationships with wholesalers, publishers, distributors, with game authors. Creating our own games."

Then there's the added benefit of Snakes and Lattes' unique position in the board game industry as a de facto test market for games.

"Everyone in the whole value chain," he says, "whether it's the author, the publisher, the wholesalers, the agents, distributors. Everyone - even the retailer . . . They don't know why they're playing. They [have a] very truncated vision of the whole industry and we are the only [ones] in contact with customers . . .

"We have a lot of knowledge that not a lot of people have in the industry. So definitely helping them refine their products and their strategy, that's definitely one of the things we want to do as well."

There are, of course, risks involved with expansion, and Castanie maintains it's important not to lose sight of what made them successful in the first place.

"When we've talked about the vision and where we want to be in a few years, people tend to not give this café the priority," he admits. "They say, 'Oh, we want to sell games. We want to publish games.' That's fine. But this is a business. We should not forget this. [The café] is where we're coming from. This is what is making us money right now and this is an experience. This is what we're offering to people. Selling games, publishing games, that's side activity."

All things considered, having debates about how to accommodate more people or how to expand into new areas is a pretty good thing. It's a symptom of success, of a business that, Castanie notes, was profitable from day one.

But managing a growing business isn't easy. Each day provides a host of new challenges and requires taking on a variety of roles. However, Castanie - who used to work as an IT consultant for a larger company - claims to take it all in stride.

"I used to be tired. You know, it's tough, you have to get up at 6:30, take your car, you have to go there, talk to people that you don't want to talk to," he says. "Here, even the stuff that you don't want to do, it seems so much easier. So you don't feel as tired. I work way more than what I used to do . . . But I don't feel tired. It's such a pleasant feeling, you know?

"And I get to do things very different - organizing your day as well. Like today, maybe I'll buy some alcohol at the LCBO and then I'll go see an accountant. I'll have a quick meeting with a game designer. There's so much diversity in your day . . . that you don't have to just sit in front of a computer and do stuff."

As for those who might pursue a similar path, Castanie's advice is simply to keep focused on the long game - and not to get too bogged down in day-to-day minutiae. In his words: be flexible and reactive.

"You have to think about the big picture," he says. "You don't want to care about, 'What about game pieces that are getting lost?' If it's a problem, you'll tackle it, but don't think too much. I think that's why the project only took 2 years . . . [We said], you know what, we're going to do it . . . If [something] doesn't work, then we'll act."

And in meeting all the daily challenges and responsibilities, it doesn't hurt to love the work you're doing.

"Being able to do what you like, it's just priceless," says Castanie. "You don't realize that. Business owners can tell you as much as you like. You don't realize it until you're actually doing it.

"The amount of work that we do is insane, but you don't feel tired. You [feel] motivated. Every time there's a hurdle, you just want to fix it. There's no weird pressure from this weird upper management that has such a different vision of the work that is actually being done. Most of the regular employees [at other places] can feel that. The feel sometimes frustrated by what's happening in [their] company's environment. And the fact that we don't have that pressure here is awesome . . .

"And also to see the customer side. When you see people really enjoy, it's awesome. One of the things we're really proud of is seeing in here the same diversity that you would see on the streets of Toronto . . . It's not probably us. It's probably that the board game itself . . . or the social aspect of the place is something that draws from everywhere. And everyone knows board games.

"It's something that I'm very proud of, that people come from diverse backgrounds and all types of locations and they gather here."

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